New River Valley Leading Lights, which locally is based out of Blacksburg, has extended the deadline for when Volunteer Award nominations may be made to midnight, Monday, March 9.
Award winners in 2019 were broadly representative of the NRV. The website is open to accept nominations for the eleventh annual awards, and early nominations are encouraged. The nomination form is only online at www.leadinglightsnrv.org .
Persons who have been nominated before but not selected as a Distinguished Recipient may be nominated again. Individuals and organizations are highly encouraged to submit nominations for outstanding New River Valley volunteers they know or volunteer with. Administrators, teachers, guidance counselors, club sponsors, and youth mentors are asked to nominate young people for the high school and college awards. (Groups and organizations cannot be nominated for awards.)
Leading Lights from 2019 were engaged in diverse volunteer activities across the New River Valley. Collectively they spent thousands of hours over their lifetimes volunteering with clothing banks, rescue and disaster relief teams, as youth mentors, managing holiday programs, overseeing weekend ‘food backpack’ programs, helping at local food kitchens, serving with civic groups, community building, and more than a hundred other noble local charitable activities and programs. Leading Lights is focused on the impact of a volunteer’s leadership and example to others.
Awards are given in three categories: Community (seven awards), high school (two awards), and college (two awards). In the community award category, an award is reserved for a volunteer in each county/city of the New River Valley (Floyd County, Giles County, Pulaski County, Radford City), and two in Montgomery County (due to population size), and one across the whole NRV to recognize Lifetime Volunteer Achievement. Nominees must be current residents of the New River Valley or if being nominated for a student category award, they must be currently enrolled in a school or college in the New River Valley.
Award winners in each category will be selected on the following criteria: strong community involvement; a demonstrated lifestyle of dedicated, continuous, long-term involvement in the community; proven leadership; and creativity in initiating and implementing projects that lead to a better quality of life.
NRV Leading Lights recognizes volunteers in the New River Valley each year who are making community-changing impacts culminating in an annual celebratory invitation-only banquet slated for April 16, 2020. It honors selected Distinguished Recipients by making a monetary donation to the non-profit of their choice and honoring all nominated recipients at this prestigious event.
Call (540) 381-2066 or email leadinglightsnrv@gmail.com if more information is needed.
